1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric connection box which is used for interconnection or the like of wire harnesses and supplies electricity.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electric connection box adopts a structure having a power supply section which has a predetermined circuit composed of a bus bar, electric wire wiring or the like, and a plurality of connector housings for connecting wire harnesses.
In recent years, as electric equipments which are provided to automobiles increase, a wire harness is constituted as sub-wire harnesses which are divided per function of the electric equipments. The wire harness is divided into sub-wire harnesses so as to be connected in the electric connection box. As a result, the connection structure of the sub-wire harnesses in the electric connection box becomes complicated, and operability is deteriorated. Further, the quality is possibly unstable.
Therefore, in order to simplify the connection of the wire harness, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 6-80318 (1994) discloses an electric connection box where a plurality of sub-wire harnesses composing the wire harness are connected. As shown in FIG. 1, this electric connection box has a cover main body 502 and a rear cover 506. The cover main body 502 is provided with a plurality of cavities 501 for attaching electric parts such as fuse and relay. The rear cover 506 is fixed to the cover main body 502 and is provided with housing sections 505 to which terminals of electric wires 504 composing wire harnesses 503 are attached. A circuit to which the electric parts and electric wire terminals are connected is housed in the cover main body 502 and rear cover 506. The rear cover 506 is divided into rear covers 506a, 506b and 506c for a plurality of sub-wire harnesses correspondingly to the sub-wire harnesses 503a, 503b and 503c which are sorted according to destination of the wire harness 506, a load system and the like. The plural cavities 501 and circuits are formed into blocks correspondingly to the rear covers 506a, 506b and 506c for the plural sub-wire harnesses.
However, in the electric connection box having such a structure, when a number of the sub-wire harnesses 503a, 503b, 503c . . . increases, a number of the rear covers 506a, 506b, 506c . . . for sub-wire harnesses of the electric connection box increases. Since the rear covers 506a, 506b, 506c . . . for sub-wire harnesses are arranged on a plane, the electric connection box is enlarged and attachment characteristic to an automobile is deteriorated. Moreover, in this electric connection box, since the sub-wire harnesses 503a, 503b and 503c are connected at their terminals via connectors, a number of the connectors to be used increases, and the cost becomes high. Further, since the circuit is configured by bus bar and electric wire wiring in the electric connection box, design change such as a modification of the circuit is difficult, and a contribution degree to the productivity of the wire harness is low.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electric connection box which is capable of suppressing enlargement as much as possible even if a number of sub-wire harnesses increases, and increasing a degree of freedom of the attachment to an automobile and making the assembly operation easy.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an electric connection box which is capable of suppressing an increase in a number of connectors to be used even if a number of sub-wire harnesses increases.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an electric connection box which makes a change in design such as a modification of a circuit so as to be capable of improving productivity of a wire harness.
In accordance with the above objectives, the invention is directed to an electric connection box for connecting a plurality of sub-wire harnesses. The electric connection box comprises a power supply section, a plurality of sub-wire harness connection plates, a plurality of intermediate connection terminals, and a connection section. The power supply section has terminal sections. The plurality of sub-wire harness connection plates are laminated on the power supply section. Each sub-wire harness connection plate has a plurality of set grooves to put electric wires of a sub-wire harness thereinto. Each set groove of sub-wire harness connection plate has a plurality of through holes formed at a bottom thereof and spaced apart from each other in a longitudinal direction thereof. Each intermediate connection terminal is electrically connected to an electric wire of a sub-wire harness and is set in a set groove of a sub-wire harness connection plate so that a through connection conductor connection section thereof is aligned with a through hole of the set groove. The connection section has a plurality of through connection conductors. Each through connection conductor is connected to a terminal section of the power supply section after being inserted through a predetermined through hole in each of the sub-wire harness connection plates and connected to each through connection conductor connection section aligned with the predetermined through hole.
In another aspect and in accordance with the above objectives, the invention is directed to an electric connection box for connecting a plurality of sub-wire harnesses to a power supply section. The electric connection box comprises a plurality of sub-wire harness connection plates, a plurality of intermediate connection terminals, a connection-section, and a plurality of power supply connection connectors. The plurality of sub-wire harness connection plates are laminated to each other. Each sub-wire harness connection plate has a plurality of set grooves to put electric wires of a sub-wire harness thereinto. Each set groove of a sub-wire harness connection plate has a plurality of through holes formed at a bottom thereof and spaced apart from each other in a longitudinal direction thereof. Each intermediate connection terminal is electrically connected to an electric wires of a sub-wire harness and is set in a set groove of a sub-wire harness connection plate so that a through connection conductor connection section thereof is aligned with a through hole. The connection section has a plurality of through connection conductors. Each through connection conductor is inserted through a predetermined through hole in each of the sub-wire harness connection plates and is connected to each through connection conductor connection section aligned with the predetermined through hole. The plurality of power supply connection connectors are connectable to the power supply section. Each power supply connection connector has connection electric wires electrically connected to the intermediate connection terminals in a sub-wire harness connection plate.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.